Copycat
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: Class B's training for the provisional exams is just as arduous as Class A's training, and Monoma finds himself doing some soul searching as he works to improve his quirk.
1. Chapter 1

**Part of an art-fic exchange with Mimiistar on Tumblr.**

 **This turned into a multichapter fic against my will. But Monoma was too much fun to write, and I deeply enjoy writing his interactions with Kendou. Not sure how long it's gonna be overall, but I do have it fairly well outlined out, so I should be able to get updates out relatively quickly.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Monoma stared deeply into Kendou's narrowed eyes, forcing an approximation of nonchalance into his expression. "I think your arm's starting to shake, Kendou. And you're looking a little flushed," he observed. "Are you really having such a difficult time against _me?_ "

She scoffed at him, long wise to his favorite tactic of goading his opponents into reaching beyond their abilities. "We're arm wrestling, Monoma. You're not looking any better." Kendou leaned heavily into their clasped hands - both enlarged to their fullest. Her classmate's expression didn't change, but she felt him throw his weight behind his arm as well to counter her. An errant strand of sweat soaked hair suddenly fell into her eyes. She blinked rapidly against the stinging sensation, and then huffed and blew on the strand - only for it to flop back into her eyes again.

Her opponent's widening smirk gave her a second wind, and she began to force his hand closer to the surface of the rock they were braced against.

She almost had him pinned when a short beeping sound filled the air, and she swiftly released his hand as it suddenly resumed its original size - narrowly avoiding slamming it against the rock.

Monoma looked at the timer beside them with distaste. "So five minutes and ten seconds is still my limit, then." He shook out his hand, flexing the joints.

"That's better than it was during the sports festival, though," Kendou reminded him. Taking the opportunity presented to her, she safely tucked away the misbehaving strand of hair. "And it's not like you're a slouch when it comes to basic muscle training needed to hold your own against augmentation quirks."

He waved off her words, but it was half-hearted. "I think I've recharged enough - ready to go again?" Monoma asked, resetting the timer.

"Sure," she agreed. "Other hands this time?" Propping her elbow on the stone, she grinned at him and activated her quirk.

Rolling his eyes, he tapped the back of his hand against hers. Once he was settled, he placed his gargantuan hand in hers. "Ready..."

" _Alright, time to pack it in!_ " Blood King's voice echoed across the training field, amplified by the speaker system to reach even the noisiest of his students with ease.

The pair sighed heavily at the sound of their homeroom teacher's voice. Reluctantly, they released their grip on each other - their hands coming away with red marks from where they'd both exercised perhaps a bit more force than strictly necessary against the other.

They stood and stretched as Blood King continued his announcement.

"You've done great work so far! I've seen a lot of improvement from all of you. But that doesn't mean you're free, even if Class is over for the day!" A collective groan arose from the exhausted teenagers in the training grounds, but the majority obediently plodded and tottered to the exit. "You all want that provisional license ahead of Class A, right? So be sure to reflect tonight on what you can do to expand on your quirks and fighting style. Don't forget your homework, too! Neglecting your minds would be a crime!"

"The real crime is how the teachers expect us to get through all the homework after this brutal training," Monoma muttered, mostly to himself and half on reflex. "Not that we can't handle it, but this is seriously excessive."

With a roll of her eyes, Kendou slapped his back with her quirk-enlarged hands. "I don't want to hear that from the only person that failed the end of term exam."

Monoma wheezed as the air was knocked from his lungs.

Her face paling, Kendou's hands abruptly shrunk to a more average size. "Sorry, Monoma!" she apologized. "Forgot for a second, there!"

Holding up his hand to forestall her, he hunched over, desperately trying to draw in air. "...Deserved that," he managed to squeeze out, his lungs still struggling to inflate. Once he was able to breathe again, he straightened up and fell into step with her as they left the training area. "You're spending too much time on your class rep duties with Class A's president. Picking up his weird habits, I see."

Kendou reddened. Rather tellingly, in Monoma's opinion.

"I am not!" she protested, emphasizing with large movements of her hands to convey the seriousness of her denial. "I think your obsession is messing with your head. Class A isn't the only one with its share of weirdos." The attempt at needling him was more amusing than insulting. Kendou tried, but she really wasn't any good at it. Probably because she was such a do-gooder (and Monoma was self-aware enough to know that he was made of more unpleasant stuff).

It was something of an unspoken agreement between the two of them - that Kendou would rein him in whenever he started to go too far. Monoma wasn't sure if it had been a conscious decision on either of their parts. It was more as if that was the roles they'd fallen into thanks to Monoma's complete and utter incapability to put the brakes on once his mouth had run away from him, and Kendou's apparent need to look after others. It was a comfortable enough arrangement for him. The last thing he wanted was to alienate his classmates; unlike Class A, who could rot.

To be honest, this was what made her an excellent class president and someone easy to get along with, even for someone as contrary as him.

But her embarrassment was too good to pass up.

Monoma's lips curved into a smirk. "So then the weird hand movements are of your own choosing now? Good to know."

She slapped his back again, though this time with a normal, human-sized hand. It was still hard enough to sting, but at least Monoma didn't have to worry about choking on his own spinal column this time. Clearing her throat, Kendou picked up the pace slightly. "Don't forget the group study session in the common area tonight. Since your remedial lessons were interrupted by villains last time, you need all the studying you can get."

"There was so little action where I was, the remedial lessons could have continued as normal," he quipped. "I'm sure the dunces from Class A were glad for the respite, though."

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Kendou waved a farewell at him before disappearing into the women's changing room.

He took zero offense at her lack of response, and headed towards the men's corresponding area.

Yet her final words bothered him. He really couldn't figure out why Kendou kept harping on him about studying.

...Especially when she already knew that it _wasn't_ the written exam he had failed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Not super confident about this chapter, to be honest. Glad to be getting back into this fic, though!**

 **Keep in mind that Monoma's opinions of characters do not necessarily reflect my own opinions.**

* * *

' _What can I do?'_

This thought plagued Monoma all throughout dinner, thoroughly wrecking any enjoyment he might have gleaned from the meal. Although their homeroom teacher had said that they were supposed to come up with special moves with their quirks, Monoma honestly had no idea where to even begin. His efforts to extend the time he could copy another quirk _had_ borne some fruit, as his training with Kendou that afternoon had proven. But it was taking far too long to gain a measly few extra seconds of usage. Seconds could still mean the difference between life and death, but it also wouldn't do him any good if he couldn't use the copied quirk to its fullest potential.

Sometimes, Monoma couldn't help feeling like a copy machine. Every time he copied a quirk, it always seemed to come out a little less than the original. Which to some degree was to be expected, but so long as it remained the truth, then Monoma would never be able to beat a villain that understood their own quirk inside and out. There was also only so much he could do with his teammate's quirks. If there was a bad quirk matchup, he was sunk. His unfortunate encounter with Class A's Bakugou during the sports festival had rammed that point home in a humiliating way. That boy, as far as Monoma was concerned, was exactly what he could expect of a villain in the field. And Monoma had come up appallingly short.

What could he do with his quirk to even the odds against a villain in a one-on-one fight, and what kind of strategy could he use in a group fight to take villains down?

His ponderings were interrupted by Kendou waving at him frantically from the other end of the cafeteria, her hands enlarged to their fullest in a bid to get his attention. Now that she had it, she made some frantic movements that took Monoma a few seconds to decipher.

Study group. Right. That was starting soon.

With a sigh, Monoma waved her on. He had no appetite anyway. Gathering up his tray, he proceeded to dump the majority of it in the trash, untouched.

* * *

"I'm never going to get this!" Tetsutestu's lamentation filled the common room of Class B's dorm. "English is a horrible language. Why do we even need to know it?"

"You say that like you're any better at Japanese," Monoma teased his classmate, unable to help himself, earning himself the customary smack from Kendou, which he did nothing to avoid.

"Monoma." Her tone held great warning, as if she had not just smacked him already.

With a nod of acquiescence, he allayed further abuse to his person. At this rate, Monoma thought he might get used to Kendou's chops. As a hero, he'd probably face blows a lot worse than the chiding ones of his class president. May as well use the opportunity to learn how to soldier through. Not that he didn't deserve every single one, anyway.

Excitedly, Tsunotori offered, "I will help, Tetsutetsu!" The American transfer student beamed at her classmate, confidence oozing out of every pore, and pleased beyond measure to be of assistance in a subject.

Relief washed over Tetsutetsu. "You're a lifesaver. Here, this part." He held out his textbook, pointing to the section giving him trouble. "What is a… a sub-ordi-nate… clause? I just. It makes no sense. Help me."

For several long moments, she peered at the text, trying to decipher the explanation. Sweat beaded on her brow. After several minutes, she looked up and whispered with tears gathering in her eyes, "I don't know!"

Monoma patted her on the back in consolation. "I'll help you out."

"Don't teach her anything weird!" Kendou warned him. "Like last time!"

He hadn't been planning to before she said that. But now that she _had_ said it… "Me?" Eyes wide, mock offense coated Monoma's words. "I? Would never?" He almost reconsidered after the look the class president gave him. Almost.

It took most of the study session for Monoma to communicate to everyone present what the difference was between a subordinate clause and an insubordinate clause. After the kanji in the textbook were explained to her a little more, Tsunotori joined the discussion in earnest, and took over for him. Even then, none of the four were particularly certain they understood it fully. Towards the end, they all concluded that they would need to question Present Mic more about the topic, no matter how much the prospect made them sweat. He was a fantastic teacher, to be certain, and a fun one at that. He was just. Loud. So very loud.

The group called it a day, with that.

Kendou stood up and stretched, her joints popping. "I'm heading up to Yui's room to help her with new moves for her quirk," she announced, using her quirk to gather up her textbooks and hold them securely. "If anyone needs me, I'll be there until curfew. If not, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Diligent as always, helping everyone with their studies," Monoma commented cheerily, picking up his own textbooks. "Try not to work yourself so hard you collapse though, alright? We can't have the class president out of commission for the provisional license exams."

An uncertain, wobbly smile spread across Kendou's face, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. "Yeah, I'll make sure to get enough sleep. Not sure how much longer I can stay up anyway, to be honest. Today's training really wore me out…"

"Same here." Tetsutetsu let out a groan as he stood up, his joints squealing with metal fatigue. "Gonna come apart at the seams at this rate."

"You should invest in a good oil," remarked Monoma, in the spirit of helpfulness. "I bet the support students could come up with something for you." If Class A could reap the rewards of a partnership with the support students, why couldn't Class B? Besides which, he had a healthy respect for the girl that had made it to the battle round. Anyone who could lead Class A students around by the nose like she had was alright in his book.

Tetsutetsu considered the suggestion. "That might be a good idea. Maybe I'll check them out during lunch."

"I'll come too!" offered Tsunotori. "I need new shoes. Maybe something that'll give me more momentum for a charge."

Monoma wondered if she meant horseshoes, but refrained from making any ill-advised puns as he felt he'd been disciplined enough by the class president for one day. Aside from which, Tsunotori had _horns_ , and he did not care to find himself on the business end of those things or end up in the infirmary. He had his own problems to deal with in regards to his quirk, which he really could not afford to keep putting off.

* * *

Once he had returned to his room, Monoma wasted no time and pulled several compendiums off his bookshelf. They were monstrous and bulky, but with all the physical training he'd undergone in the year thus far they weren't any real difficulty to handle. He set them down on his desk with a solid thud, the new weight making everything on it bounce several centimeters.

Sitting down at his desk, Monoma opened up the first. It was an encyclopedia of quirks, organized by type and already marked up considerably with Monoma's careful notes.

Although he still had no idea just what kind of special move he could do with his quirk, at least he could expand his knowledge base on what he might be able to accomplish with everyone else's at his disposal. Maybe something would jump out at him, if he compared several different quirk applications at the same time.

He'd think more seriously about special moves and the like tomorrow. There was still plenty of time before the provisional license exams.


End file.
